London - Day 2 (10/27/07)

We woke up on Saturday morning and went downstairs for breakfast. We then jumped on the Circle Line and then took it to High Street/Kensington, heading toward Kensington Palace. First we stopped at an American Express Exchange to cash in some travelers checks - nothing like getting a 2.17 exchange rate, that means our money is worth LESS than half when converted into British Pounds. UGH!

From there we walked past St. Mary's Church making our way to Kensington Palace. Walking around Kensington Palace around the park side past the Orangery Restaurant and the Sunken Gardens. Then making our way through the heart of the park past the Round Pond, the Steke Monument (Spire) and the statue of a guy on a horse called Physical Energy.

We then made our way to the gilded Prince Albert Memorial dedicated to him, the British Empire and all of its interests. This is an amazing statue that could be a social studies lesson in itself with all of the historical vignette carvings and statuettes. Just across the street is the impressive Royal Albert Hall auditorium. Then back into the park, past the Princess Diana Fountain, which was more of a continuously flowing wandering loop. Across the Serpentine river, past the Reformers Tree (a rock mosaic of a tree) and on to Speakers Corner (no one was on the soapbox). Across the way is the former London's central gallows, now known as the Marble Arch.

We headed down Park Lane then into the neighborhood past Grosvenor Chapel, down Audley to Curzon and into the Shepherd Market zone - lots of Lebanese restaurants here. We found a cozy little authentic British pub, Ye Grapes, that had a full Thai menu... huh? Thai? Odd juxtaposition.

Leaving there we started to get a few sprinkles but they didn't last long. Wondering around we came across the hotel where the Miami Dolphins were staying - pretty cool. We then checked out the Wellington Arch and made our way to Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey or even near it). There was an abortion protest that had just finished as they arrived back at the cathedral for mass. Then on to Buckingham Palace and down The Mall through St. James Park. Winding up at Admiralty Arch and on into Trafalgar Square/Lord Nelson's Column. From there we proceeded down Whitehall, past Downing Street and ending our day's walk across from Parliament/Big Ben and St. Margaret's Church.


After rushing back to the room to grab a quick shower and change, we then took the Piccadilly to Leicester Square, picking up our show tickets and heading to the Dominion Theatre for Queen's We Will Rock You. The show was awesome! Great music, funny... would love to see it in New York to see the different as they add several "local" aspects to the show.

After a long day of walking, we wrapped it up by going into China Town (Soho) and having a nice dinner and bottle of Shiraz at the Golden Dragon. Sleep and 'off our feet' were quite welcome that night.

The British Invasion

Well, the day finally arrives! Gina and I catch our British Airways flight (BA 206) - how appropriate. The flight was uneventful (the best kind) and we arrived at London's Heathrow at 6:35 am. While in line for Passport control/immigration, we met Billie Applegate who was also flying over for the game. She is Sirius satellite radio's "Any NFL Game Anywhere Sweepstakes" winner. She's a Dolphins season ticket holder that also got to choose any game for every week this season - how cool is that! She's going to see 22 regular season NFL games plus a couple of NCAA games whenever there's a good one where she's traveling to.


Bhavesh (my UK sales guy) came to pick us up at the airport. Before leaving we grabbed some breakfast at Garfunkels in the airport. We then made a quick trip to High Street (first of many) to change some dollars into British Pounds at some ridiculous rate of 2.15 USD per 1 GBP. Ouch!

After checking into the Mayflower Hotel in the Earl's Court area of Kensington, we decided to check out the neighborhood. We ended up walking to the St. Mary's church and then a stroll through an expansive and very old Brompton Cemetary.


We then bought our Oyster Cards which gave us the unlimited opportunity to Mind The Gap in the Underground (the Tube). We rode the Piccadilly line to Piccadilly Circus area, then strolled around through Leicester and Trafalgar Square then down Whitehall past 10 Downing St. to Parliament. Big Ben looks great at night... all lit up. After going across Westminster Bridge and walking north again past the London Eye and then across on the Golden Jubilee Bridge back toward Leicester Square.

We found a "discount" show ticket outlet where we purchased tix for Saturday night's showing of Queen's We Will Rock You. We then grabbed some dinner at a Spaghetti House restaurant near Leicester Square before calling it a day.